Grant: Discovery Grants Program - Individual

To survive, animals need to carefully match their food intake with the amount of energy they spend. This occurs through a complex communication system between the cells of the organism as well as inside each cell. One important hub of this communication system is a protein named AMPK, which is activated when cellular energy levels drop to inhibit energy consuming processes and promote nutrient uptake and recycling. Most of the cellular energy is made from nutrients imported from outside of the cell into an organelle called mitochondria. These mitochondria are also affected by changes in nutrient availability through dynamic changes in their length and internal structure. Indeed, mitochondria are highly dynamic organelles that constantly fuse together and divide, a process that has a major impact on mitochondrial function, including energy production and the regulation of cell death. While the mechanisms allowing mitochondria to fuse and divide have been defined, the signals regulating these changes are still poorly understood. In this proposal, we will examine the regulation of mitochondrial dynamics upon changes in nutrient availability, with an emphasis on the important communication hub that is AMPK. By defining the signals regulating mitochondrial dynamics upon changes in nutrient availability, we will better understand the control of metabolic regulation, a cellular process on which everything else in the organism depends.